The number and variety of portable and mobile devices in use have exploded in the last decade. For example, the use of mobile phones, tablets, media players etc. has become ubiquitous. Such devices are generally powered by internal batteries and the typical use scenario often requires recharging of batteries or direct wired powering of the device from an external power supply.
Most present day systems require a wiring and/or explicit electrical contacts to be powered from an external power supply. However, this tends to be impractical and requires the user to physically insert connectors or otherwise establish a physical electrical contact. It also tends to be inconvenient to the user by introducing lengths of wire. Typically, power requirements also differ significantly, and currently most devices are provided with their own dedicated power supply resulting in a typical user having a large number of different power supplies with each being dedicated to a specific device. Although, the use of internal batteries may avoid the need for a wired connection to a power supply during use, this only provides a partial solution as the batteries will need recharging (or replacing which is expensive). The use of batteries may also add substantially to the weight and potentially cost and size of the devices.
In order to provide a significantly improved user experience, it has been proposed to use a wireless power supply wherein power is inductively transferred from a transmitter coil in a power transmitter device to a receiver coil in the individual devices.
Power transmission via magnetic induction is a well-known concept, mostly applied in transformers, having a tight coupling between primary transmitter coil and a secondary receiver coil. By separating the primary transmitter coil and the secondary receiver coil between two devices, wireless power transfer between these becomes possible based on the principle of a loosely coupled transformer.
Such an arrangement allows a wireless power transfer to the device without requiring any wires or physical electrical connections to be made. Indeed, it may simply allow a device to be placed adjacent to or on top of the transmitter coil in order to be recharged or powered externally. For example, power transmitter devices may be arranged with a horizontal surface on which a device can simply be placed in order to be powered.
Furthermore, such wireless power transfer arrangements may advantageously be designed such that the power transmitter device can be used with a range of power receiver devices. In particular, a wireless power transfer standard known as the Qi standard has been defined and is currently being developed further. This standard allows power transmitter devices that meet the Qi standard to be used with power receiver devices that also meet the Qi standard without these having to be from the same manufacturer or having to be dedicated to each other. The Qi standard further includes some functionality for allowing the operation to be adapted to the specific power receiver device (e.g. dependent on the specific power drain).
The Qi standard is developed by the Wireless Power Consortium and more information can e.g. be found on their website: http://www.wirelesspowerconsortium.com/index.html, where in particular the defined Standards documents can be found.
The Qi wireless power standard describes that a power transmitter must be able to provide a guaranteed power to the power receiver. The specific power level needed depends on the design of the power receiver. In order to specify the guaranteed power, a set of test power receivers and load conditions are defined which describe the guaranteed power level for each of the conditions.
The Qi standard defines a variety of technical requirements, parameters and operating procedures that a compatible device must meet.
Communication
The Qi standard supports communication from the power receiver to the power transmitter thereby enabling the power receiver to provide information that may allow the power transmitter to adapt to the specific power receiver. In the current standard, a unidirectional communication link from the power receiver to the power transmitter has been defined and the approach is based on a philosophy of the power receiver being the controlling element. To prepare and control the power transfer between the power transmitter and the power receiver, the power receiver specifically communicates information to the power transmitter.
The unidirectional communication is achieved by the power receiver performing load modulation wherein a loading applied to the secondary receiver coil by the power receiver is varied to provide a modulation of the power signal. The resulting changes in the electrical characteristics (e.g. variations in the current draw) can be detected and decoded (demodulated) by the power transmitter.
Thus, at the physical layer, the communication channel from power receiver to the power transmitter uses the power signal as a data carrier. The power receiver modulates a load which is detected by a change in the amplitude and/or phase of the transmitter coil current or voltage. The data is formatted in bytes and packets.
More information can be found in chapter 6 of part 1 the Qi wireless power specification (version 1.0).
Although Qi uses a unidirectional communication link, it has been proposed to introduce communication from the power transmitter to the power receiver.
System Control
In order to control the wireless power transfer system, the Qi standard specifies a number of phases or modes that the system may be in at different times of the operation. More details can be found in chapter 5 of part 1 the Qi wireless power specification (version 1.0).
The system may be in the following phases:
Selection Phase
This phase is the typical phase when the system is not used, i.e. when there is no coupling between a power transmitter and a power receiver (i.e. no power receiver is positioned close to the power transmitter).
In the selection phase, the power transmitter may be in an off-mode but will monitor its interface surface in order to detect a possible presence of an object. Similarly, the receiver will wait for the presence of a power signal.
Ping Phase:
If the transmitter detects the possible presence of an object, e.g. due to presence of an object that influences the magnetic field on its interface surface, the system proceeds to the ping phase in which the power transmitter (at least intermittently) provides a power signal. This power signal is detected by the power receiver which proceeds to send an initial package to the power transmitter. Specifically, if a power receiver is present on the interface of the power transmitter, the power receiver communicates an initial signal strength packet to the power transmitter. The signal strength packet provides an indication of the degree of coupling between the power transmitter coil and the power receiver coil. The signal strength packet is detected by the power transmitter.
Identification & Configuration Phase:
The power transmitter and power receiver then proceeds to the identification and configuration phase wherein the power receiver communicates at least an identifier and a required power. The information is communicated in multiple data packets by load modulation. The power transmitter maintains a constant power signal during the identification and configuration phase in order to allow the load modulation to be detected. Specifically, the power transmitter provides a power signal with constant amplitude, frequency and phase for this purpose (except from the change caused by load-modulation).
In preparation of the actual power transfer, the power receiver can apply the received signal to power up its electronics but it keeps its output load disconnected. The power receiver communicates packets to the power transmitter. These packets include mandatory messages, such as the identification and configuration packet, or may include some defined optional messages, such as an extended identification packet or power hold-off packet.
The power transmitter proceeds to configure the power signal in accordance with the information received from the power receiver.
Power Transfer Phase:
The system then proceeds to the power transfer phase in which the power transmitter provides the required power signal and the power receiver connects the output load to supply it with the received power.
During this phase, the power receiver monitors the output load conditions, and specifically it measures the control error between the actual value and the desired value of a certain operating point. It communicates these control errors in control error messages to the power transmitter with a minimum rate of e.g. every 250 msec. This provides an indication of the continued presence of the power receiver to the power transmitter. In addition, the control error messages are used to implement a closed loop power control where the power transmitter adapts the power signal to minimize the reported error. Specifically, if the actual value of the operating point equals the desired value, the power receiver communicates a control error with a value of zero resulting in no change in the power signal. In case the power receiver communicates a control error different from zero, the power transmitter will adjust the power signal accordingly.
The interactions between the different phases are illustrated in FIG. 1.
Qi originally defined a wireless power transfer for low power devices considered to be devices that have a power drain of less than 5 W. Systems that fall within the scope of this standard use inductive coupling between two planar coils to transfer power from the power transmitter to the power receiver. The distance between the two coils is typically 5 mm. It is possible to extend that range to at least 40 mm.
However, work is ongoing to increase the available power, and in particular the standard is being extended to mid-power devices being devices having a power drain of more than 5 W.
Specifically, the Wireless Power Consortium has recently established a Work Group to develop specifications for cordless kitchen appliances. The new specifications will define the interface between kitchen appliances and inductive power sources. Power requirements may vary from the 100 W range (e.g. simple juicers) to 1.5-2.4 kW (typically for heating appliances such as kettles).
The development of the Qi standard to cover an increasing variety of devices and applications also results in a number of new usage scenarios that may not be optimally supported by the existing Qi approach.
For example, in the current Qi standard, when a wireless powered device is placed on top of a power transmitter, the power receiver is (almost) instantaneously (following a quick transition via the identification and configuration phase) powered by the power transmitter. This is suitable for e.g. a charging function where the battery to be charged normally requires immediate charging. However, in many potential new applications, such as e.g. for kitchen appliances, different situations may occur.
For example, when a device, such as a kitchen appliance, is placed on top of a power transmitter, it does not necessarily need to be powered instantaneously. The appliance may not be intended for immediate use and it may be desired that it remains in a switched-off state for a long period of time before being used. For example, a blender arranged for wireless power transfer may be placed on a power transmitter area of a kitchen table top. However, this may simply be for convenience and the blender may not be required to operate until some time later.
It is desired that when the appliance is in the switched-off state, no wireless power signal is provided by the power transmitter. The presence of a potentially strong wireless power signal could potentially result in waste of power and a potential heating of unintended objects in the vicinity (eddy currents may be induced in conductive parts of other proximal objects (such as metal keys) or indeed in e.g. metal parts of the appliance itself. This could e.g. result in significant heating of these objects and elements.
At the same time, it is desired that when power is required due to the appliance being switched on, the power is provided very quickly and preferably is perceived to be provided substantially instantaneously by the user. Such functionality is not supported by the current Qi approach.
Also, the increased variety in applications and devices supported tends to make functions and approaches for the power transmitter detecting and adapting to the specific current scenario more difficult and more critical. Accordingly, improved detection of the current operating environment and scenario would be beneficial.
An improved power transfer system would accordingly be advantageous. In particular, an approach that allows improved operation, improved power transfer, increased flexibility, facilitated implementation, facilitated operation, facilitated detection of and/or adaptation to current conditions, improved support for an increased variety of use scenarios, and/or improved performance would be advantageous.